As the Jets today took aim at Sunday’s opponent -- the Cincinnati Bengals -- with the hope of stringing together victories for the first time this season, attention lingered on a bizarre incident at the conclusion of last Sunday’s win over the New England Patriots.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Chris Jones, a Patriots rookie defensive lineman, for pushing teammate Will Svitek into Jets lineman Damon Harrison on a field goal attempt in overtime gave the Jets new life. Instead of the Patriots taking over at their own 46 -- Nick Folk had just pulled a 56-yard field goal to the left -- the Jets retained possession at the Patriots’ 23. Four snaps later, Folk made good on a second chance to kill off the Patriots

The foul on Jones stemmed from a rule new this season and had never before been called in a game.

Demario Davis, a linebacker on the Jets’ field goal block unit, said he is “very aware of that rule every time we are in field goal block. We could do it last season and we can’t do it this season. As a linebacker you are the guys who are up there pushing the D-linemen, helping them get that extra push.”

Rex Ryan said Jets coaches make a point each week of reinforcing rules to players, by using officials who call penalties during practice and reviewing protocol in meetings.

“We get tapes from the league, as every team does, and we go over those tapes with our players,” the Jets coach said. “Every Friday in a team meeting to start our team meeting is basically on the officials report. So any of those rules, our guys are very aware of it.”

Jones said after Sunday’s game that his judgment lapsed during the play, the rule slipped out of his head, and he accepted blame. But today Bill Belichick said he himself misinterpreted the rule. Players not aligned on the line of scrimmage were allowed to push, the Patriots coach thought.

Replays showed that the Patriots committed the same infraction during a Week 6 game against the New Orleans Saints, though officials didn’t toss a flag. Ryan ignored speculation that the Jets asked Sunday’s officiating crew to monitor Patriots players during field goals and PATs, when the new rule applies.

When asked if he had seen Patriots players pushing against the Saints, Ryan mentioned the detailed study of his coaching staff, notably his special teams coordinator: “We’re going to watch every play of the opponent. That’s what we do as coaches. I know Ben Kotwica watches all of the special teams.”